


Soulbrands

by valantha



Series: Fun with drabbles [4]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Drabble Collection, F/M, Gen, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-02
Updated: 2015-02-02
Packaged: 2018-03-07 14:44:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3176383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valantha/pseuds/valantha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a world where everyone is born with a birthmark – a lack of pigmentation, a soulbrand – foretelling the site of first skin-to-skin contact with their soulmate, most people have handshake brands. SHIELD agents aren’t most people.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to xyber116 for being my Beta

Going through school with a fist soulbrand on his cheek shaped the person Philip Coulson would become. The first time he and his soulmate would touch, he or she would punch him. He joined the wresting team despite the taunts. He was quiet, studious, and oh so determined not to become just a victim. He signed up for ROTC. He joined SHIELD.

His heart sang when another cadet took him down with a right cross left leg-hook combination during a sparing session and his cheek and her fist began to glow. He’d finally met his soulmate and she was _glorious_.

* * *

Melinda May knew May women were special. Five generations bore knuckle-only soulbrands with pride. She was proud of her heritage, proud of her skills, and also glad no one at school knew what it meant. It was hard enough bouncing from school to school, country to country, but she just knew it would have been worse if the other kids knew that the first time she’d touch her soulmate, it would be with anger in her heart.

Melinda was relieved when her soulmate turned out to be another cadet. She was even more relieved by the _look_ in his eye.

* * *

After Skye had been fostered, then adopted, by the May-Coulsons, she was told that one of the things that drew them to her was her soulbrand. He told her she might have a tough go, she told her should be proud to be the sixth generation of May to bear a knuckle-only brand. They told her only she could dictate what it would mean for her future with her soulmate. She told them they were wrong; hers was from a fist-bump.

Years later, at a SHIELD academy orientation meeting, a brash Cadet Triplett with his ‘Hey girl’ proved her right.

* * *

Thankfully Fitz never really had to explain to anyone _why_ his soulbrand was 85% of a massive handprint on the small of his back. His mother had come up with dozens of not-very-good explanations over the years. None of them were right. None of them were close.

She never predicted that his soulmate would first touch him whilst lifting his unconscious body off of a stretcher. She’d never had thought that he’d first meet his soulmate after he’d been in an anoxia-induced coma for nine days. But she would have been glad to know he was _there_ for her son.

* * *

Jemma was born with all-white fingertips. Her mother’s friends all proclaimed it was a sure sign she was born to be a doctor. The constant expectation drew her as far way from medicine as her innate love of human physiology would allow her. It was only the lure of seeing the world in a top-of-the-line (at one point in time) lab on board a mobile command unit that drew her back to the practical aspects of biochemistry and human physiology. She hadn’t yet met that special someone who bore the brand of her fingertips somewhere on their body. Not _yet_.


	2. Chapter 2

Nick Fury had six white fingertip marks around his bad eye. He never talked about his soulmate – the SHIELD rumor mill loved to debate who she was, how they met, where she was now; the favored rumor at the moment was that she was a cybernetics expert hidden away for her own protection – only Dum Dum Dugan and Coulson knew the true story. Which was far too close to that of the favored rumor, with one key difference. Even _she_ didn’t know she was his soulmate. For her own protection. The ends justified the means, or so he told himself.

* * *

Maria Hill had no soulbrand. Which was fine. In civilian life it was rude to ask about people’s soulbrand or lack thereof. In the Armed Forces different rules held. But it was fine; Maria didn’t let those voices get to her. While her peers dicked around, she was focused. While her superiors dicked around, she was promoted. It was fine. She didn’t make many friends, but she didn’t make enemies either. When a cipher with an eye patch recruited her for a secret organization she finally felt like it _was_ fine. SHIELD was where she belonged. SHIELD was her soulmate.

* * *

In the Red Room soulbrands were a complication, an annoyance. They were masked with cover-up, falsified with makeup, and ignored whenever possible. Natasha wasn’t as lucky as the girls with bland handshake marks but was better off than some. It wasn’t until after the fall of the CCCP and the Red Room did she think on the handprint encircling her upper arm with anything other than irritation. Alone in the world, it was a cause for concern. Later, world-weary and done, she stared down an archer, begging for release. It never entered her mind that he could be her soulmate.

* * *

Clint never wanted to meet his soulmate. He knew from an early age they weren’t all rainbows and puppy dogs. Soulbrand or no, people could be assholes. Over the years he met a few decent pairs but it was never enough to change his mind. Not until he saw a girl with such soulpain and disobeyed his termination orders, not until he pulled her up from the sidewalk, hand and arm glowing, did he find a reason to change his mind. Only then did he realize pain shared was halved. Only then did he realize two were stronger than one.

* * *

Steve always knew he was meant for bigger and better things, but his body kept on letting him down. Even his soulbrand betrayed him. He knew wasn’t going to be an invalid forever, and yet the white whisper-soft strokes on his scrawny chest belied this fact. They told him even his soulmate would baby him.

Oh how wrong he was. From the beginning her strength inspired his. From the beginning her no-nonsense attitude thrilled and intrigued him. Even once they touched, even once he changed, and they knew, she stood by her guns. If only they had had more time.


End file.
